Michael Vaughan has claimed that England captain Alastair Cook must find his best form in Sri Lanka to relieve the pressure on his shoulders.

There were calls for Cook to hand back the one-day international captaincy after series defeats to Sri Lanka and India earlier in the year, and Vaughan believes that the only way Cook can silence his critics is to score runs at the top of the order.

"The pressure is on the captain to really deliver and get his batting back to what it has been over the last few years," the former England skipper told Sky Sports News. "In the last year-and-a-half he has struggled and been found out a little bit on the front foot.

"He has to get his form right, he has to get some runs and get himself into that confident frame of mind. The only way you do that is by going out in the middle and getting some scores.

"The wins will be important in terms of getting his confidence as a captain. I think the break will have done him the world of good, but he's got to hit the ground running in Sri Lanka and make sure that he leads from the front."

England meet Sri Lanka in the first ODI in Colombo on November 26.